State-Owned Defense Company Tomer Prepares for IPO Within Two Years
State-owned defense company Tomer is preparing to list on the stock exchange within two years. The company is currently working on issuing bonds and transitioning into a reporting entity.
The state-owned defense company Tomer is preparing to issue its shares on the stock exchange within about two years. In the first stage, the company is working on issuing bonds on the local stock exchange and becoming a reporting company, a move it has been working on for over a year.
Tomer is a state-owned defense company established in 2015 as part of the split of IMI Systems. The company specializes in the development and production of rocket propulsion systems and produces, among other things, engines for Arrow missiles, artillery rockets, and satellite launchers. The intention to make Tomer a public company was revealed today (Wednesday) for the first time by Roi Kahlon, Director of the Government Companies Authority, at the Government Companies Conference held at the stock exchange.
The desire of Tomer's management, under CEO Dotan Gabay, who took office in February this year, and Chairman Roni Moreno, to issue debt on the stock exchange has existed for over a year. Tomer's difficulty in issuing debt and thereby becoming a reporting company stems, among other things, from the company's difficulty in disclosing all its data to the public, some of which are estimated to be classified due to national security. Consequently, the submission of financial reports to the Securities Authority in order to present them to all investors is being delayed.
Tomer's rocket propulsion activity was conducted for years within the framework of the Israel Military Industries. When IMI was privatized in 2018 and sold to Elbit Systems, the Ministry of Defense excluded the rocket propulsion activity from the deal, which is considered sensitive and classified, and left it within Tomer.
The company employs about 900 people. Its sales in 2024 totaled about 550 million shekels. At the end of 2025, Tomer paid a dividend to the state for the first time at a rate of 50% of its profits, amounting to about 18 million shekels.
Tomer is not the only state-owned defense company preparing for an IPO. In the last year, the planned offerings of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Rafael have been attracting interest in the market, given the valuation at which they are expected to be carried out. According to estimates, IAI could be issued at a valuation of more than 100 billion shekels and Rafael at a valuation of 60 billion shekels, on the local stock exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.
